To All Those People Trying To Build A Following

You want to build a following, do you? This subject is one I’m questioned about on a daily basis. There are some fundamental truths that need to be understood if this is really your goal. It’s definitely not my goal.

The worst request I get is the one that reads like this:

Hey Man,

My goal is to build a following on social media so I can then direct the audience towards the business I’ve created. Can you help me with that?

Looking to 10X my followers and direct them to my website.

John

Or this one:

Hey There,

You seem to crush it on social media. Can you do my content for me if I pay you? Can you build my ‘personal brand’?

Valerie

First rule of fight club

It takes years to build a following and if the whole idea revolves around your ego and trying to monetize people, it probably won’t work. Sorry.

You need to understand that you can’t build an audience in a short space of time. This goal is loosely tied to the idea of getting famous.

Screw fame and followers and focus on something with a little more meaning.

Vanity is a seriously unfulfilling pursuit that will suck the life out of you and cause you to keep checking your notifications. If you think deeply about the words ‘build a following’ you’ll see what I mean.

Having people engage is secondary. Doing something you love or something that lights you up will make all the other factors irrelevant. You’ll be so hooked on what you’re doing that a following will be the last thing you’re interested in.

Anyone who has built a following will tell you that it takes years. If you’re looking to drop $10,000 with someone who has done it before and you’re hoping to shortcut the process, you’re delusional. The system can’t be gamed that easily. Many of the bloggers who’ve done something cool, which I’ve gotten to know over the years, took at least five years to get where they are.

What’s even crazier is that after a while, numbers of followers/readers became completely irrelevant. Instead, they were in competition with themselves and trying to hone their craft.

Second and final rule of fight club

There’s no outsourcing the creation of content. No one else can pretend to be you or pretend to live your life. I can’t be your brand for you and neither can anyone else.

The stories you tell are your content and they have to come from you. You need to hit the keys on the keyboard or stand behind the camera and share your story — if I do that for you, then it’s not you and it’s not your brand.

Secondly, screw the personal brand game. People don’t want to follow a personal brand; they want to follow your story and the things you can teach them. Maybe you can teach them cooking, knitting, ice skating — who cares what it is.

If the focus is on you and your brand, and *not* on how you can help all of us, nobody is going to be tuning in.

If your goal is to have a following on social media, then try this formula instead:

• Do the work yourself
• Quit looking for shortcuts
• Take the focus away from your ego
• Tell interesting stories
• Drop the vanity metrics
• Be yourself

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